Melanie A. Woodin
Professor & Dean
Campus
St. George (downtown)
CSB Appointment
Full
Research Areas
Animal Biology, Cell Biology, Neurobiology
Education
Ph.D. University of Calgary 2001
M.Sc. University of Toronto 1997
B.Sc. University of Toronto 1995
Titles and Honors
President, Canadian Association for Neuroscience
Primary Undergraduate Department
Cell & Systems Biology
Graduate Programs
Cell & Systems Biology
Academic or Administrative Appointments
Dean, Faculty of Arts and Science
Research Description
The Woodin Lab is focused on discovering the cellular mechanisms underlying inhibitory GABAergic synaptic plasticity in the healthy and diseased brain. We employ a multi-disciplinary approach combining electrophysiology, biochemistry, fluorescence imaging, and behaviour to understand how synapses are built, the mechanisms that underlie their plasticity, and their role in neuronal circuits. Using principles we learn from the study of the healthy brain we unravel mechanisms that lead to neurological disorders and diseases, including autism spectrum disorder, Huntington’s disease and ALS
Contact Information
Office Phone: 416-978-8646
Office: RW303B
Lab: RW302/RW303/RW323/RW318
Lab Phone: 416-978-1406
Email
Mailing Address
Department of Cell & Systems Biology
University of Toronto
25 Harbord St.
Toronto, ON M5S 3G5
Canada
Recent News
Publications
2022
Striatal Chloride Dysregulation and Impaired GABAergic Signaling Due to Cation-Chloride Cotransporter Dysfunction in Huntington’s Disease
Serranilla M, Woodin MA
2022, Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, 10.3389/fncel.2021.817013
2020
Cortical interneuron-mediated inhibition delays the onset of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Woodin MA, Kim JC, Robertson J, Zinman L, Keith J, De Koninck Y, Côté D, Gasecka A, Keramidis I, Garand D, Yang JW, Bedard S, Pressey JC, Liang X, Dargaei Z, Place KM, Aqrabawi AJ, Khademullah CS
2020, Brain, 10.1093/brain/awaa034
KCC2 is a hub protein that balances excitation and inhibition
Pressey JC, Mahadevan V, Woodin MA
2020, Neuronal Chloride Transporters in Health and Disease, 10.1016/B978-0-12-815318-5.00008-X
Autism-Misregulated eIF4G Microexons Control Synaptic Translation and Higher Order Cognitive Functions
Gonatopoulos-Pournatzis T, Niibori R, Salter EW, Weatheritt RJ, Tsang B, Farhangmehr S, Liang X, Braunschweig U, Roth J, Zhang S, Henderson T, Sharma E, Quesnel-Vallières M, Permanyer J, Maier S, Georgiou J, Irimia M, Sonenberg N, Forman-Kay JD, Gingras A, Collingridge GL, Woodin MA, Cordes SP, Blencowe BJ
2020, Molecular Cell, 10.1016/j.molcel.2020.01.006
Depolarizing GABA Transmission Restrains Activity-Dependent Glutamatergic Synapse Formation in the Developing Hippocampal Circuit
Salmon CK, Pribiag H, Gizowski C, Farmer WT, Cameron S, Jones EV, Mahadevan V, Bourque CW, Stellwagen D, Woodin MA, Murai KK
2020, Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, 10.3389/fncel.2020.00036
A Novel Small Molecule Targets NKCC1 To Restore Synaptic Inhibition
Raveendran VA, Pressey JC, Woodin MA
2020, Trends in Pharmacological Sciences, 10.1016/j.tips.2020.10.002
2019
Ionotropic and metabotropic kainate receptor signalling regulates Cl− homeostasis and GABAergic inhibition
Garand D, Mahadevan V, Woodin MA
2019, The Journal of Physiology, 10.1113/JP276901
Alterations in Hippocampal Inhibitory Synaptic Transmission in the R6/2 Mouse Model of Huntington’s Disease
Dargaei Z, Liang X, Serranilla M, Santos J, Woodin MA
2019, Neuroscience, 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2019.02.007
2017
A kainate receptor subunit promotes the recycling of the neuron-specific K+-Cl−co-transporter KCC2 in hippocampal neurons
Pressey JC, Mahadevan V, Khademullah CS, Dargaei Z, Chevrier J, Ye W, Huang M, Chauhan AK, Meas SJ, Uvarov P, Airaksinen MS, Woodin MA
2017, Journal of Biological Chemistry, 10.1074/jbc.M116.767236
2016
Top-down modulation of olfactory-guided behaviours by the anterior olfactory nucleus pars medialis and ventral hippocampus
Aqrabawi AJ, Browne CJ, Dargaei Z, Garand D, Khademullah CS, Woodin MA, Kim JC
2016, Nature Communications, 10.1038/ncomms13721
2015
Single cell-derived clonal analysis of human glioblastoma links functional and genomic heterogeneity
Meyer M, Reimand J, Lan X, Head R, Zhu X, Kushida M, Bayani J, Pressey JC, Lionel AC, Clarke ID, Cusimano M, Squire JA, Scherer SW, Bernstein M, Woodin MA, Bader GD, Dirks PB
2015, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 112, 851-6, 25561528
2014
Parvalbumin and GAD65 interneuron inhibition in the ventral hippocampus induces distinct behavioral deficits relevant to schizophrenia
Nguyen R, Morrissey MD, Mahadevan V, Cajanding JD, Woodin MA, Yeomans JS, Takehara-Nishiuchi K, Kim JC
2014, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 34, 14948-60, 25378161
Neurons Are Recruited to a Memory Trace Based on Relative Neuronal Excitability Immediately before Training
Yiu AP, Mercaldo V, Yan C, Richards B, Rashid AJ, Hsiang HL, Pressey J, Mahadevan V, Tran MM, Kushner SA, Woodin MA, Frankland PW, Josselyn SA
2014, Neuron, 83, 722-35, 25102562
Kainate receptors coexist in a functional complex with KCC2 and regulate chloride homeostasis in hippocampal neurons
Mahadevan V, Pressey JC, Acton BA, Uvarov P, Huang MY, Chevrier J, Puchalski A, Li CM, Ivakine EA, Airaksinen MS, Delpire E, McInnes RR, Woodin MA
2014, Cell reports, 7, 1762-70, 24910435
Patterns across multiple memories are identified over time
Richards BA, Xia F, Santoro A, Husse J, Woodin MA, Josselyn SA, Frankland PW
2014, Nature neuroscience, 17, 981-6, 24880213
2013
Muscarinic acetylcholine receptor activation prevents disinhibition-mediated LTP in the hippocampus
Takkala P, Woodin MA
2013, Frontiers in cellular neuroscience, 7, 16, 23450426
Neto2 is a KCC2 interacting protein required for neuronal Cl- regulation in hippocampal neurons
Ivakine EA, Acton BA, Mahadevan V, Ormond J, Tang M, Pressey JC, Huang MY, Ng D, Delpire E, Salter MW, Woodin MA, McInnes RR
2013, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 110, 3561-6, 23401525
2012
Increasing CRTC1 function in the dentate gyrus during memory formation or reactivation increases memory strength without compromising memory quality
Sekeres MJ, Mercaldo V, Richards B, Sargin D, Mahadevan V, Woodin MA, Frankland PW, Josselyn SA
2012, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 32, 17857-68, 23223304
Refuting the challenges of the developmental shift of polarity of GABA actions: GABA more exciting than ever!
Ben-Ari Y, Woodin MA, Sernagor E, Cancedda L, Vinay L, Rivera C, Legendre P, Luhmann HJ, Bordey A, Wenner P, Fukuda A, van den Pol AN, Gaiarsa JL, Cherubini E
2012, Frontiers in cellular neuroscience, 6, 35, 22973192
Hyperpolarizing GABAergic transmission requires the KCC2 C-terminal ISO domain
Acton BA, Mahadevan V, Mercado A, Uvarov P, Ding Y, Pressey J, Airaksinen MS, Mount DB, Woodin MA
2012, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 32, 8746-51, 22723714
2011
Disinhibition-Mediated LTP in the Hippocampus is Synapse Specific
Ormond J, Woodin MA
2011, Frontiers in cellular neuroscience, 5, 17, 21954377
Endogenous GABA(A) and GABA(B) receptor-mediated electrical suppression is critical to neuronal anoxia tolerance
Pamenter ME, Hogg DW, Ormond J, Shin DS, Woodin MA, Buck LT
2011, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108, 11274-9, 21690381
2010
GABAergic synaptic transmission regulates calcium influx during spike-timing dependent plasticity
Balena T, Acton BA, Woodin MA
2010, Frontiers in synaptic neuroscience, 2, 16, 21423502
Spike-timing dependent plasticity in inhibitory circuits
Lamsa KP, Kullmann DM, Woodin MA
2010, Frontiers in synaptic neuroscience, 2, 8, 21423494
2009
Disinhibition mediates a form of hippocampal long-term potentiation in area CA1
Ormond J, Woodin MA
2009, PloS one, 4, e7224, 19787049
2008
Coincident pre- and postsynaptic activity downregulates NKCC1 to hyperpolarize E(Cl) during development
Balena T, Woodin MA
2008, The European journal of neuroscience, 27, 2402-12, 18430034
Extracellular potassium regulates the chloride reversal potential in cultured hippocampal neurons
Balena T, Acton BA, Koval D, Woodin MA
2008, Brain research, 1205, 12-20, 18353290
2007
Role of activity-dependent regulation of neuronal chloride homeostasis in development
Fiumelli H, Woodin MA
2007, Current opinion in neurobiology, 17, 81-6, 17234400
2006
Recent advances in basic neurosciences and brain disease: from synapses to behavior
Bi GQ, Bolshakov V, Bu G, Cahill CM, Chen ZF, Collingridge GL, Cooper RL, Coorssen JR, El-Husseini A, Galhardo V, Gan WB, Gu J, Inoue K, Isaac J, Iwata K, Jia Z, Kaang BK, Kawamata M, Kida S, Klann E, Kohno T, Li M, Li XJ, MacDonald JF, Nader K, Nguyen PV, Oh U, Ren K, Roder JC, Salter MW, Song W, Sugita S, Tang SJ, Tao Y, Wang YT, Woo N, Woodin MA, Yan Z, Yoshimura M, Xu M, Xu ZC, Zhang X, Zhen M, Zhuo M
2006, Molecular pain, 2, 38, 17196111
Excitatory actions of GABA mediate severe-hypoxia-induced depression of neuronal activity in the pond snail (Lymnaea stagnalis)
Cheung U, Moghaddasi M, Hall HL, Smith JJ, Buck LT, Woodin MA
2006, The Journal of experimental biology, 209, 4429-35, 17079713
2003
Coincident pre- and postsynaptic activity modifies GABAergic synapses by postsynaptic changes in Cl- transporter activity
Woodin MA, Ganguly K, Poo MM
2003, Neuron, 39, 807-20, 12948447